my girlfriend asked me about this one during a recent game, and i couldn't come up with an answer...

i think i've heard that if you attempt a field goal on a non-fourth-down down, (1-3), you get the ball back and can re-kick if the field goal misses. could this be true? are there other conditions that decide if you could retry a kick? can anyone clarify this?

"rarely does a man have greater heroes than the champions of his youth."

What can happen is... say you have the ball on 3rd down and you're in position to win the game with a FG... and you roll the FG unit onto the field.

If the center messes up the snap to the holder, the holder has the option of just laying on the ball to stop the play. As soon as he is touched, the 3rd down will be over, and the team will be able to try again with the new line of scrimmage being at the place where the holder laid on the ball.

It's not so much getting a re-try as it is taking the FG shot one down early in case anything happens on the snap... thus giving you the option of just trying again.

Just to clarify one thing - If you do try a field goal on 3rd down and miss, you don't get another shot - the ball turns over to your opponent at the spot of the kick (if missed from outside the 20 yard line) or to the 20 (if missed from inside the 20)

"Fat, drunk and stupid is no way to go through life, son." - Dean Wormer

It didn't use to be that way TH... it used to be wherever you missed it, the opponents got it at your line of scrimmage. The rule changed in two ways:

First you get the ball on the 20 if the FG kicker misses inside the 20 and the spot of his kick is inside the 20.

Second if the kicker misses outside of the 20 the opponent receives the ball at the spot where the kicker kicks from - not the original line of scrimmage- so if you miss the opponents gain 6-8 yards depending on where the kicker likes to have the spot of the ball.

Rich in Roanoke
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Let others hail the rising sun:
I bow to that whose course is run